Two Gentlemen of Verona, with apologies to William Shakespeare

About this time of year in 1997--16 years ago, although that barely seems possible--I sat down in front of my very first PC.  I was determined that, having run out of excuses, I would write the novel I had been promising myself for years.  I had some vivid characters and the outline of the plot.

That Friday evening, after a day at work and a light dinner, I wrote the opening chapter of The Zael Inheritance.  (It transpired, in a process that all novelists will understand, that I'd actually written Chapter 7).

Cover via Amazon

Holiday Reading

I'm back, refreshed from a week in Tenerife.  It's the first time I've ever been on holiday and not taken a book.  Instead, luggage pared down, it was my Kindle, loaded up with my intended reading.

The experience only reinforced my existing Kindle mania.  Light, easy on the eye and infinitely practical.

First on my reading list was Justin Cronin's weighty modern-day vampire novel, The Passage.  This didn't justify the hype, and would have benefited from being 200 pages shorter, but it was still an absorbing read.  More rewarding was Joe Abercrombie's long-awaited The Heroes.  In publishing terms, Abercrombie is a well-established brand: ultra-violent, blackly comic deconstructions of the fantasy genre, told through mulitple viewpoints and clearly differentiated viewpoints.  Nobody does this niche better but, after five novels, I'm interested to see where he goes next.

My final reading, which I'm still working through, is Antony Beevor's immense history of Hitler's Russian campaign, Stalingrad.  It's a grim and chilling account of an almost unimaginably hellish time.

Long Live the King

In thirty-plus years as a reader of books for adults, including a strong interest in science-fiction and fantasy, by some quirk I've managed never to read a novel by Stephen King.  I'm not sure quite why that is.  I don't particularly care for horror, and I've always seen King as at the horror end of the spectrum.

The magic of the Kindle is that I can download sample chapters of books I'm not really sure about, and wouldn't spend actual cash on.  (There used to be an artefact known as a "library" which performed a similar function, but these seem to have fallen into disuse).  Thus buttressed, I downloaded the openings of The Stand, seemingly King's most popular novel, and The Green Mile, which I knew from the excellent Tom Hanks film.

It is a possible to have a long career as a bestseller without being much cop as a writer, but there's no doubt King can write.  I devoured the opening of The Stand--a killer plague is on the loose: disaster beckons--in about an hour.  This was cracking stuff!  King does all the basics with unobtrusive excellence: inject pace, differentiate interesting characters, nail place and period.  The Stand is unputdownable, so imagine my dismay when I logged on to Amazon only to find the Kindle edition has been withdrawn!  I really don't want another 1,400 page paperback in my house, but the opening is so compelling there's no other option.  £4.99: click here for One-Click Ordering.  Job done.

To keep me going until the postman arrives, I downloaded the whole of The Green Mile, which is similarly impressive.  I know the story from the film--which appears to follow the source closely--but it's still compelling.  King has an uncanny command of voice, and critics who dismiss his work as populist pap have probably never realised how difficult it is to write something engaging and accessible.

I've got a holiday coming up and a long book in the post. What could be better?

Released today!  The Last Free City for the Kindle

I'm delighted to announce that, after a series of delays and setbacks which would make a novel in themselves, The Last Free City is published today.  At the moment we have only the Kindle edition; the paperback will be along in a few weeks' time; its production is subject to considerably more bureaucracy.

Click here to buy from Amazon.co.uk -- and don't forget that both The Dog of the North and Dragonchaser are also available for the Kindle.  One of the impressive features of the Kindle is the facility to download the first chapter as a free sample, and in a like spirit of generosity here is another sample - our introduction to the contentious teenager Malvazan, who will accompany the reader through much of the novel:

Malvazan had selected his outfit with care the previous night; scurrying around in the dawn gloom to find appropriate attire might suit Dravadan but such haphazardness was not the way to success.  He performed a brisk ablution in the ewer by his bed—fortunately he needed to shave only a couple of times a week—and ten minutes later made his way down the stairs into the dining room where the table was laid for an early breakfast.

To his surprise and contempt, his parents and brother were already at the table.

“Ah, the sluggard!” cried Dravadan, his dark fringe hanging into his eyes.  “The boy who lies abed till noon!”  He spread some honey on a slice of bread and conveyed it to his mouth with more enthusiasm than delicacy.  “You would think—”

“Dravadan!” said his mother Flinteska sharply.  “If you must bait your brother, at least do not speak with your mouth full.”

Dravadan rammed the rest of the slice into his mouth and, for the moment at least, devoted his full attention to subduing it.

Malvazan’s father Crostadan, head of House Umbinzia, raised his hands in a mollificatory gesture.  “Can we not have peace at the breakfast table on a day like today?” he asked.  “Malvazan, there is some minor amusement in such a habitually early riser being last among us.  It would do you no harm to display a little levity.”

Malvazan sat heavily as far from the rest of the family as the table allowed and reached for a slice of bread.  “I am glad to be such a source of amusement,” he said.  “It is good to know that a second son has some purpose.”

Dravadan let out a belch which escaped explicit reproof, accompanied by a smirk towards Malvazan.

Flinteska slapped her napkin down on the table.  “Enough, both of you.  Dravadan, as the eldest son you should show greater decorum; Malvazan, your invincible surliness oppresses us all.  Today we meet the King and Queen of Gammerling: a pleasant demeanour is required.”

Changing reading habits with the Kindle

I've had a Kindle for three or four months now and, as I've mentioned previously, my experience has been highly rewarding.  I've never been one of those "love the smell of fresh paper" types, and I've found reading a small, light device more satisfying than trying to fight the spine to hold a paperback open or prop up a hardback.  There's no question that I prefer reading on a Kindle to a traditional book - philistine though this may make me.

What I didn't expect is that Kindle would change not only how I read, but what I read.  Kindle books allow the first chapter or two to be downloaded as a sample for free.  This is normally enough to decide whether a book is worth reading, and there's no barrier to downloading a slew of samples.  Some are discarded on that basis, but others make it on to my reading list where otherwise they would not have done.

This year already I've read and enjoyed three sports biographies which I would otherwise not have picked up.  In ascending order of brilliance:

In Search of Robert Millar - Richard Moore

Moore documents the life and career of the famously prickly Scottish cyclist, who became a recluse after his retirement from the sport.  Moore's "search" is not only for Millar's whereabouts (in which he is unsuccessful) but for understanding of the most idiosyncratic of men: in this latter quest he gets much closer.

Coming Back to Me - Marcus Trescothick

Trescothick's autobiography charts in agonising detail his battle with mental illness which brought a premature end to his international cricket career.  It won a string of awards for its unsparing honesty, and the courage with which Trescothick tackles the subject earns the reader's admiration and sympathy, but never pity.

Fallen Angel - William Fotheringham

The story of Fausto Coppi, the legendary Italian cyclist of the 1940s and 50s, has just about everything.  Coppi rose from poverty to become a multiple winner of cycling's greatest races, as well as conducting a very public affair with a voluptuous (and highly manipulative) brunette at a time when adultery was still illegal.  Continuing to race well beyond his prime, he died aged only 40 after contracting malaria during an exhibition trip to Africa.  The complexities and contradictions of Coppi's character make him a Shakespearean tragic hero, and Fotheringham's biography captures all the subtleties of his life.  Bravissimo!

I have been fighting a battle for many years with the space constraints of my bookshelves.  With out of copyright titles free on the Kindle, I may yet box up and ship out my paperback Dickens, Austen, Hardy, Bronte, Zola...

The Dog of the North - now on the Kindle

Tempted by the idea of reading some fantasy fiction but too lazy to prop up a 474-page book?  Or no more room on your groaning bookshelves?  Perhaps you baulk at paying £5.99 for a reading experience but regard £5.69 as entirely reasonable?

If so, the new Kindle edition of The Dog of the North  is just the thing for you.  I've had my Kindle for a couple of months and I'm very taken with it.  My only gripe has been the relatively limited range of books available, a concern I now feel has been entirely addressed by this latest development...

Kindle Debut

First it was self-published.  Then it came out in German.  Now Dragonchaser is available on the Kindle.  At £1.71 (the US version retails for $2.71), what do you have to lose?

This is my first foray into the ebook market and it will be interesting to see how it goes.

The Kindle is Coming

Yesterday the extended Macmillan New Writing family got together for lunch and a natter in London (more about this on the MNW blog, no doubt). It was also my first opportunity to see the Amazon Kindle e-reader, about which Neil had blogged enthusiastically over on Veggiebox.

I've always been in the sceptics' camp on e-readers; I like to have a book to read. Nonetheless, I was impressed both by the aesthetics of the Kindle and its functional qualities. The screen quality is exceptional, and I could well imagine reading an entire book on it. The device itself is very thin and all but weightless. For commuting, or going on holiday, the ability to load it up with books would be very convenient.

The only remaining issue I have is with the price--both of the Kindle itself, and the books to go on it. Why would I pay the best part of two hundred quid for an e-reader when the books are little, if any, cheaper than a phyisical copy? If a Kindle was a quarter of the price (and soon, no doubt, it will be), and the books two or three pounds each, the proposition would be much more attractive.

For that to happen, publishers will need to rethink their pricing models. But without it, I think the e-book revolution is on hold.